Austin MacPhee

[sheepyvillian]

On 21/01/2023 at 22:57, villa89 said:

Anyone notice that he constantly gives the instructions to anyone coming on and every time it looks like the player has zero interest in what he is saying. It was in one ear and out the other with Coutinho today.

Nice to know someone is listening in. 

[Villaphan04]

thought we had some clever set plays from corners yesterday

[May-Z]

Just now, Villaphan04 said:

thought we had some clever set plays from corners yesterday

The chance where Ramsey had a shot (and it was handballed over the bar by the defender) was a very well worked piece of play. 

[OutByEaster?]

I think we were perhaps even more impressive the week before, when we kept a big, powerful West Ham team out despite them having 14 corners.

He's doing good work.

[Tomaszk]

8 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

I think we were perhaps even more impressive the week before, when we kept a big, powerful West Ham team out despite them having 14 corners.

He's doing good work.

Yep.

When Emery kept him around, he'll  have been convinced by the club.

You can guarantee that if he's here after the summer, he's impressed the boss in their time together.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

8 hours ago, Villaphan04 said:

thought we had some clever set plays from corners yesterday

You're only allowed to bump the thread when we aren't doing well, just to say how garbage he is whilst not actually knowing what he does or a bad result not being his fault. lol

[gwi1890]

Take a bow Austin. We’ve successfully defended 42 corners over the past 5 games and only conceded one goal.

[John]

Nice to see him really animated on the touchline too. 

[TheMightyVillans]

6 minutes ago, gwi1890 said:

Take a bow Austin. We’ve successfully defended 42 corners over the past 5 games and only conceded one goal.

And the one goal is the joke of a penalty at west ham I assume.

Great turnaround.

[DJBOB]

Good routines too. Even mcginn’s goal came off the back of another routine. Looked like Chambers was trying to kill it for Buendia (who hilariously keeps going unmarked on set pieces) but the control wasn’t perfect. Still ended up working out. 
 
Leicester are ripe for the picking on set pieces too. Undersized squad. 

[StanBalaban]

Can't imagine Unai suffers fools gladly, so I guess the coaches suffer more than most under a poor manager.

Deserves a lot of credit as he seems to be an integral part of what's happening here.

[sidcow]

Interested to know people's thoughts on leaving nobody back when we take a corner. 

It's a high risk strategy. Thought we were going to get caught by a breakaway yesterday, we inevitably will eventually. 

Not sure if this is MacPhee, more probably Emery as it's new maybe. 

I'd love to know the thinking. 

[DJBOB]

The statisticians say that set pieces are an easy situation to create a high xG chance. Makes sense - the taker has ample time and unlike open play, the attacking team should know where everyone is at one point. 
 
To me, it looks like we designate two players to go back when we take the corner which looks to be Moreno and JJ and one person to engage the loose ball if the corner is not taken short. 
 
The opposing manager will usually go all XI back instead of leaving one up because leaning someone unmarked will lead to our goal given against Stevenage and Arsenal. 

Edited April 16, 2023 by DJBOB

[mikeyp102]

Yesterday was the first time in ages, that we put not one but two up front when Newcastle had a corner. It was a clear tactic to stop Newcastle piling their giants into the box. 

[rbcuk]

19 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said:

Yesterday was the first time in ages, that we put not one but two up front when Newcastle had a corner. It was a clear tactic to stop Newcastle piling their giants into the box. 

About time we did this, as means the opposition have to have at least the same number back, the amount of times we could have a quick break but never have anyone up there 

[CVByrne]

Quote

Aston Villa have learned to love set pieces – and the man who devises them - The Athletic

Before Unai Emery arrived at Aston Villa, he had done his background checks on their set-piece coach Austin MacPhee.

In the week between agreeing to leave Villarreal for another crack at the Premier League, and taking training for the first time, former Arsenal manager Emery assessed MacPhee’s work with Villa and Scotland, and his previous spells at Danish side FC Midtjylland and Northern Ireland too.

It was not a standalone research project. The Spaniard wanted to know about every player he was inheriting from Steven Gerrard, and other staff members, too. Then, when Emery began work officially on November 1, he effectively put them all on trial — a clean slate for everyone.

After receiving positive feedback and seeing how thorough MacPhee was in his approach, it wasn’t long before the 43-year-old was handed greater responsibility.

His role under Gerrard had become slightly diminished. Set-piece training was not aligned in the way it is now.

Emery, however, recognises the importance of every facet of the game and while additional time is now set aside to work on new attacking routines and sharpen up in defence, the key change is the head coach’s authoritative voice. Rather than leaving MacPhee to talk through the plans, Emery gets heavily involved to reaffirm the expert’s message.

There’s greater buy-in from the players, too. Douglas Luiz and John McGinn spend extra time working on their deliveries while others do walk-through routines in preparation for using those moves in games.

Each player knows his role, from acting as a blocker, to making a fake run, or being the main target when on the attack.

MacPhee is also granted freedom to instruct from the technical area on a matchday when Villa attack or defend set pieces. All of Emery’s other assistants remain on the bench as observers, leaving the head coach to set the tone.

Delegating in such a manner is part of Emery’s approach to not leaving any stone unturned, and therefore helping to give his side the best possible chance of winning. His message to the players is that if they put in the work with MacPhee between games, they will be better equipped and stand a greater chance of scoring more often when matchday comes.

 

Villa are also shooting up the rankings. Of their 46 league goals this season, more than a quarter (26 per cent) have been from set pieces. Incredibly, they have scored in all 22 games under Emery and have set a record – currently at 20 – for scoring in consecutive Premier League games under a new manager.

 

It’s the defensive side of the game that is perhaps the most impressive, though.

Villa have won the last five home games in a row — all without allowing a goal. During their current 10-game unbeaten run (eight wins, two draws), they’ve only conceded twice from open play.

In the fifth of those 10 matches, Villa went to Chelsea and defended like warriors during an onslaught at their goal. Rarely did they ever look like conceding, even when facing 13 corners at Stamford Bridge. It was the same against Newcastle in the 3-0 win 11 days ago. Villa prevented the side who win the Premier League’s most corners and have the highest xG at set pieces from scoring.

Efforts have also been made to reduce the number of corners conceded, with Emery recognising the importance of volume when analysing the numbers.

Statistics still show that 39 per cent of the goals scored against Villa are from set pieces (including penalties) but in recent months there’s been a huge improvement, largely in terms of organisation.

Martinez plays a big part in this, because he’s so dominant in his penalty area. No goalkeeper in the Premier League has recorded more catches (46) and that’s particularly useful because overall Villa have the shortest team in the division. In the closing stages of last night’s win, Martinez came out to collect a cross in commanding style to relieve the pressure.

MacPhee was not so much underperforming under Gerrard, but perhaps undervalued. Now he’s a vital part of the grand plan and nights like this one show his worth

 

 

[villa4europe]

Last night looked more like hard grafting in training to improve the quality of the delivery rather than the cuteness of the routine

Was great to see, mcginn was nailing those corners

[Jono62]

The most shocking part of the article is finding out McPhee is 43 years old!

[The_Steve]

Great to see Stone Cold Set Pieces getting more positive coverage. 

[The_Steve]

2 hours ago, CVByrne said:

 

 

Gerrard tainted everything